This Week at TheNation.com: A Special Investigation. Plus: Three Videos

May 12, 2011

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SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: DETAINEE ABUSE. In a joint investigation with PBS’s Need to Know and The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute, Joshua Phillips reveals a little-known U.S. military task force charged with investigating abuse of detainees in Iraq. Despite hundreds of allegations of abuse and torture, one of the special agents in charge of the Army’s Detainee Abuse Task Force describes it as under-resourced, overwhelmed and unable to adequately investigate cases. Be sure to watch the segment on PBS at 8:30pm EST on Friday, and check TheNation.com for Phillips’ article "Inside the Detainee Abuse Task Force."

MEDICARE AND THE PAUL RYAN BUDGET. DC Editor Christopher Hayes sat down with Rachel Maddow this week to discuss how the GOP attack on Medicare could cost them politically. In my Editor’s Cut blog, "Keep Your Hands Off My Medicare!", I argued that as the Republicans pursue an unpopular attack on Medicare, progressives have the opportunity to reset the terms of the debate. Washington Correspondent John Nichols reveals polling that shows how the Ryan plan could even cost the GOP a "safe" house seat in New York’s 26th Congressional District.

TORTURE APOLOGISTS: This week I talked to Cenk Uygur on MSNBC about how torture is not a partisan issue: it is immoral, unreliable, and makes us vulnerable to reprisals. Leslie Savan calls "torturism" the new "birtherism", and Robert Dreyfuss praises John McCain’s op-ed in Thursday’s WashingtonPost for writing that not only is torture immoral, it produces false information and did nothing to help track down Osama bin Laden.

POLITICAL REVELATION. Take a moment to watch this thoughtful conversation with Walter Mosley on his new book, Twelve Steps to Political Revelation, published by NationBooks. Mosley sits down on Morning Joe to discuss how to put America on the right track. Watch here.

SINGLE-PAYER BILL INTRODUCED. This week Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Jim McDermott announced the introduction of single-payer health care bills in the House and Senate. On Wednesday, Peter Hart of FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting) noted that the corporate media has ignored this announcement and mentioned my appearance on In the Arena with Eliot Spitzer: "There were mentions in independent outlets like Democracy Now!, GritTV and The Nation. But in the corporate media, next to nothing– except for one brief mention on CNN, thanks toNation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel." You can read that transcript here.

SOUND OFF: We are happy to announce that Nation columnist Melissa Harris-Perry has a new recurring segment, "Sound Off," on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 11:00am and 12:00noon EST on MSNBC. Be sure to check out her segment from today here, posted at TheNation.com.